Month: January 2016

There are often discussions why rugby players accept the referees’ decisions, whilst footballers constantly argue over them, sometimes belligerently. My theory is simple – The rules of rugby are so complicated that the players admit that they don’t understand them,…

It is a few years since we’ve had a Berks & Bucks FA referee on the Premier League, so we were pleased when Graham Scott was promoted at the beginning of this season. However, Graham came in for considerable criticism…

Heading has long been an important part of football but now there is a medical view that repeated heading of the ball may lead to neuro-degeneration. When former West Bromwich and England centre forward Jeff Astle died of Alzheimers his…

Some years ago, I wrote an article for the Football Referee Magazine in which I explained how I judged if a tackle for the ball was fair. If the tackler played the ball and the opponent then went over his…